pecial focus on LEADERSHIP
a special focus on LEADERSHIP
Getting Past Change:
Today's Leaders Coping
With Complexity
By Laura Burke, MBA, MS, EA, CFE
hange is a dirty
six-letter word.
Many fear
change, some will
hide from it,
others avoid
change like the plague, but a
true leader will accept it, adopt it
and lead change? Who are you?
Are you an agent of change or a
caterpillar that sleeps through
the change process?
The mortgage industry is no
stranger to change-the industry
owns it! For the past nine-and-ahalf years, the industry has seen
nothing but change since the
2008 financial crisis hit, which is
nearly a decade ago!
Here are a few highlights of
changes in the industry currently
through 2013 I found in the
media over a five-year time span:
C
How did the industry survive
all of these changes and more?
With resilient leaders. What
defines a leader's character? A
leader communicates effectively
and directly, knows the
importance of listening, has
empathy to see the other
person's side, lives by their
ethics, and moral compass.
Co-authors of the book
Resonant Leadership, Annie
McKee and Richard E. Boyatzis
found that Emotional Intelligence,
aka "EI," accounts for 85 to 90
percent of the difference
between outstanding leaders and
their average peers. They also
found that the fact that EI is a
determining factor in excellent
leadership does not mean
intellect is unimportant; leaders
need to be smart in order to deal
with the complexities and
challenges organizations face
currently.
"True leaders can establish and create an urgency to
acknowledge the necessary changes, and demonstrate
the ease of acceptance."
Laura Burke, MBA, MS, EA, CFE is director of Tax, Global
Tax Masters. Laura was one of six members nationally
chosen for the IRS IRPAC committee. Burke is an
enrolled agent, "permitted to practice" before the IRS.
Laura has 20-plus years of experience in the mortgage
arena. Her expertise is in federal tax law and corporate
security policy. She may be contacted for more
information on taxes, training, corporate security policies
and fraud investigation, as she is also a certified fraud
investigator. She may be reached by e-mail at
LauraLynnBurke@gmail.com.
79
n National Mortgage Professional Magazine n APRIL 2017
2016
Even an instrument as venerable
and seemingly stable as the 30year, fixed-rate mortgage can
evolve in the face of changing
market forces, demographics
and demand-particularly when
those changes are as rapid and
transformational as those
experienced over the past
decade or so.
The oversight required to
quickly adapt to an increasingly
complex regulatory environment
2013
New mortgage rules will
influence qualification
requirements and the types of
mortgages that borrowers get.
The regulations, drawn up in
2013 by the Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau (CFPB) are
now in effect.
The gist of one of the main
rules is simple: Lenders will be
required to ensure that
borrowers have the ability to
repay their mortgages. In return,
lenders will be protected from
borrower lawsuits so long as
they issue "safe" mortgages that
follow guidelines.
top salesperson, the vice
president? Leaders come in
different shapes, and sizes, while
wearing different hats in
organizations.
Change brings with it pain.
Knowing this will help ease the
tension the pain may cause
initially, but with the initial pain of
change will come growth.
Boyatzis's research indicates
that change is not easy, and it
does not happen by chance.
Change is implemented.
Harvard Business Press, in an
article titled "Leading Through a
Crisis," recognizes the difference
between managing and leading-
managing involves coping with
complexity and leading is coping
with change. Managing requires
leadership skills, and leading
requires managing skills.
Often times, a company will
hire a change agent. A change
agent is someone who promotes
change, and guides. This can be
someone within an organization
or an outside person who can
lead the changes required.
Understanding the catalyst for
change is a change agent's
responsibility. The use of a
change agent can be useful, as
they are not biased to old ways,
and can see new methods being
successful. The downside of
using a change agent is they
have no rapport or relationship
ties with the workers going
through the change process.
Empathy is more difficult when
the parties are not connected.
Whatever capacity you are
working in a loan broker, banker,
manager, or leader accepting
change is your first step in
becoming the change agent for
your team.
NationalMortgageProfessional.com
2017
Recent reports from Freddie Mac
show, mortgage interest rates
rose sharply after the election,
climbing above four percent for
the first time since 2015.
While still low by historic
standards, interest rates are still
about 50-basis points higher now
than they were before Donald
Trump won the election.
According to Black Knight's
report, housing is less affordable
right now than it was before the
election. In fact, home
affordability is now at its lowest
point since June 2010.
Per Black Knight's report, the
post-election interest rate bump
means that the average home
price is $16,400 more expensive
for the buyer than it was before
the election.
has many lenders challenged to
profitably offer mortgages.
The Mortgage Bankers
Association (MBA) estimates that
in excess of 50 percent of the
cost to originate is compliance,
production support staff, and
technology infrastructure.
The growing classes of
digitally-enabled home loan
borrowers, along with commodity
loan products, pricing and
lackluster customer loyalty are
putting pressure on lenders to
make the move to a more digital
mortgage experience.
In today's fast-paced
environment, finding a leader
who can adapt their style of
leadership to the situation used
to be called a situational
leadership style. Only now, we
are looking for the leader who
can be situational, charismatic,
pragmatic, transformational and
more when required. We are
looking for a chameleon leader,
one that can change with a
crisis, a strategy or required
changes, in order to be an
effective leader.
True leaders can establish
and create an urgency to
acknowledge the necessary
changes, and demonstrate the
ease of acceptance. I like to
call it the triple AAA;
acknowledge the need for
change, accept the change,
and adapt the change to your
business plan. Accept,
Acknowledge and Adapt! The
rate of change isn't going to
slow down anytime soon,
having the right leadership
aboard your team will help your
company achieve the success
it is reaching for.
The right leadership will
require creating a vision;
building a team; preparing a
plan; implementing the plan;
reviewing the strategy; making
necessary changes;
empowering key individuals;
managing the plan, and setting
goals that are short-, mid- and
long-term. The leader that
knows what to do and how to
do it ... simply does it, by
acting upon their skills and
knowledge.
In the mortgage industry,
who are the leaders of your
company ... the managers, the
a special focus on LEAD

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